Minto Village - putting a face to a demolished neighbourhood

  All buildings along the east side of Addington, west side of Prud'homme and both sides of Minto were demolished to make way for the Decarie Expressway in the mid-60s.
  This massive job was almost inconceivable in size, think of the urban equivalent of building the St.Lawrence Seaway.
   Almost every structure from St. James all the way to where Highway 40 now stands was demolished and entire neighbourhoods destroyed.
   This aerial image from the City Archives is the first I've seen of the furthest-south area involved in the demolition, the blocks between St. James and the railway tracks. (For more detail, click here)
   In an effort to re-humanize the loss of neighbourhood, I've re-typed the names of all the residents of the area from 1962 from the Lovells directory, which was from a not-very-clear edition, so there's a few inaccuracies in the re-typing but it should give an idea nonetheless that the area was almost monolithically Italian.
   Montreal Italians are sometimes unfortunately portrayed as being frequently involved in crooked undertakings but in fact, they are generally far more often victims of bullying by members of their own ethnic origins and in the case of this area, as well as Goose Village, victims of urban replanning schemes which see their homes demolished.
   You can match any now-demolished house with a name on the list below by starting at the bottom of the photo. Of course the even numbers are on the left side of the street and odd on the right.
   The eyecatching features here are a large farm on the west side of Prud'homme and a Jehovah's Witness temple at Minto and Upper Lachine. The only area without a great preponderance of Italian names is at the top right of the image, several buildings at the top of Prud'homme, as well as the strip along St. James.

Prudhomme, west side, about five houses south of Upper Lachine, gone

Addington  - from bottom to top 925- Barnaberi Francisco  927 Bellini Enzo 937 Patrizi Arnaldo 929 Maconi Don 931 Angelini Croce  935- -- 937 Sharpani Franco 941 Ciambella Luigi 945 Ottoni Francesco 947 Savage And  949 Neri Antonio 953 Santin Giovanni 955 Onesi Giovanni 959 Mataluchi Emilio  961 Lalli Urbano 973 Hartley Fred 975 Tootle Jas 977 Ciampini Oratio  979  -- 985 Cerulli M. (wid L) 987 DiGirolamo Constant 989 Yagoio Nicola  991 Cucciniello  995 Spina Pasquale 997 Warnes Wm 1001 Harola Real  1003 Norris Gordon  1009 – 1011 Lalli Cammilio 1019 Ciofi Carmena 1021—

1023 Dibuorno 1029 –  1031 Ivanoe Bettra 1033 Ball (wid W) 1037 Alarie La 1039 Dion Rolland 1041 Hubert Claude 1043 Mariani Hal 1045 O’Brien Gerald 1047 Turner Ed 1049 Narbonne La 1051 Belanger Romeo 1053 Paliotti Alex 1055 Payne John  105 Miljour And 1061 Castiliogne Jas 1063 Castiligno Joe 1067 Poirier Jules - Gorry Rejane 173 Gilbert Ovide

1075 Bois Sam 1977 Labranche Anatol 1079 Arato Diego 1081 Hurt Robt 1083 Pendenz Jos

Minto:  915 Buonamaci Nello  917 Piccioni Seraffino

941 Minto: Alessandro and Domenico Pulcini, Enrico Di Michele

925 Biello Mario  927 Lanni Basillio 929 Marchitto Francesco 930 De Granzis John  931 Rocco Vincenza 932 De Grandis Bruno 933 Manca Luigi 935 –  939 Di Michele Nazareno 941 Di Michele Enrico 950 Rotilli Gab 951 Marino Mich 93 Collechia Henry 955 Hutton Arm 957 Lajoie Robt 50 Pulcini Dom 962 – 936 Lalli Victorio 965 Shampugraro Cirino  969 Williamson Doug 971 Castelli L - Castelli Dom 973 Williams Harold  975 Petrochi Elaina 977 Cavari Hercule 979 Cimicheli Gab 961 Ciampini Quirino 969 Paliotti Vincenzo 991 Oraini Pasquale 995 Santini Sabatino 997 Tadedei Francesco 1001 Serifino Marganti 1003 Satinni P 1997 Sanini Rinaldo 1009 Smith Eraldine 1015 Starnin Amato -D’Alessandro Mario 1017 Supino Annibile 1021 Starnino Dominico 1023 Orsini John 1027 Roa Pascal 1029 Ventura R 1033 Rao Vincenzo Lorusso Ida 1025 Masiti Vincent 1043 Kingdom Hall  1045 Clark Doug 1051 Aliberti Carmelo  1053 Nardo Giovani  1055 Arena Jos  1057 Salti Dominico 1059 Chara Dominico 1061 Peleci Sostine 1065 Iorio Giovanni -Iorio Modestino  1067 Ferrara Mich 1071 Rosati Vincenzo 1973 Demyunck John 1077 Salvi Guido 1079 Brucori Emilio 1080 Letourneux Gert 1082 Cuncuna Jos 1083 Ottoni Aurelio 1085 Maioni Nick 1989 Caesari Romolo 1991 Adolfoson Frank 1095 Demeushel Onjove 1097 Govirni Dom 1101 Grenier Ern 1103 Jarry Eucher 1197 Cloffi G 1109 Caluorr Carlo 1115 – -- Upper Lachine intersects 2015 Western Automobile repairs 

Tower car 1 eastbound at Prud'homme and St. James

Prud'homme (from the bottom) 916 Arteri Franco 918 Vultaggio Jos 920 Perillo Andrea 922 Manco F 924 Rotill Andria 926 Venturo Mario  (Minto lane)  960 Montesano Ralph  960a-Yalamo Vito 966 Mah Sonny 968  Munari Alb 972 Wolkow Linda

974 Piccioni Ant 976 Maricco Angelo 980 Cileronia Art 984 Ferlini Velegi 986 Lefeo Ger 1004 Campanelli Salvator 1004-a Mastromonaco Angelo  1006 McCarney Paul L. 1024 Robert Gervais  1028 Rheaume Rob 1030 Gordon Luke 1032 Ciampini Vic 1034 Ciampini Leonardo 1038Perret Wm (tob candies) 1040 McMaster Harold 1044 Stroks Theo 1950 Agnew Sam 1052 Jambino Ernazo  1054 Leykauf Jack 19056 De Paolo Santo 1060— 1062 Bone Dominique 1064 Tedeski Julio 1966 Pitacciato Gab 1068 Berardelli Palmorino 1970 Lanza John 1076 Valori Emilio 1978 Gillifrid Luigi 1080 Teschi Angelo 1084 O’Mara Stan

(Crowley Ave)  1086 Jeffreys Chas 1088 DelVecchio Mat 1090 DelVecchio Dom 1094 L’Abbe Art 1096 Lapenna Aurelio

Italian women on Minto

1900 1-Bruett Art 2-Mavo J. 3—4-Williams M. 1906 Campanelli Sandy and Anna – Anna Beauty Salon  1941 Pickering Ern

1916 McNall Wm 1920 Gauthier Norm 2-Goyer JP 3-Cadrin Nap 4- Rheaum Rodolphe 5- Bouchard Claude 1924 Glen C

1926 McLeod Harold 1928 Spencer Wm 1930 Drakes L 1932 Kirjan Steven 1934 Clarke Fred St James W. (from Prud’homme) 5351 – Upper Lachine Road Light Lunch  5353 Barcaro Alessandro (2nd floor) Proulx Florien 5355 Romano Valerio 5357 – 5359 Voltato Prosp 5363 Marroni Ant 5365 De Luca Costino 5367 Joncas Mary 5379 McConnell John 5371 Laporte Fern 5373 McCarney Eliz 5375 Dunne Benedict 5377 Larivee Gaston, Lahcpalle Jos (painter and decorator)
5379 DuLac Ed 5381 Palietti Benj 5383 Cesaeri Di Giacomo Minto commences 5405 Damiani David 5405 Lion’s Boys & Girls Club 5407 Gorlini Santo 5409 Lamarre Aime 5411 Minto Food Market 5431 Cunningham Geo 5423 Sorrento Market Addington commences